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Have you ever heard someone say “eeny, meeny, miny, moe” when trying to choose something? There are several versions of this children’s rhyme around the world, but a common English version goes:
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe,
Catch a tiger by the toe.
If he hollers, let him go,
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.
For each word in the rhyme, the speaker will point to (or just think of) one of the options, and whichever option the speaker is pointing to (or thinking of) when the final “moe” is spoken will be chosen. The full rhyme may be used by children, but adults usually use only the first line - “eeny, meeny, miny, moe” - when choosing something or indicating that there are several options and a choice must be made.
Although the purpose of the rhyme is to randomly choose an option when you’re having difficulty making a choice, it’s not very random at all. For example, if you have 3 options and use “eeny, meeny, miny, moe,” you will always end up selecting the first option, like so:
Say “eeny” and point to option 1.
Say “meeny” and point to option 2.
Say “miny” and point to option 3.
Say “moe” and return to the beginning, pointing to and selecting option 1.
(Some people start counting backwards instead of returning to the beginning, in which case option 2 will always be chosen in this scenario.)
As such, “eeny, meeny, miny, moe” may be used only to imply a random choice.
“Eeny, meeny, miny, moe” is thought to be over 200 years old and has appeared in numerous songs, books, and movies in addition to being used in daily life. For example, Sean Kingston and Justin Bieber released a song many years ago called "Eenie Meenie" (there are several spellings of this rhyme). So, if you ever hear someone reciting this rhyme, just know that they are probably just trying to choose something!
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